Vehicle roof construction and method of assembly



Aug. 29, 1939.

G. DEAN VEHICLE ROOF cousmucmou AND METHOD OF ASSEHB Original Filed April 10, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. u .flZberZ G .Dean BY A TTORNE Y 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A. G. DEAN VEHICLE ROOF CONSTRUCTION AND METHOD OF ASSEMBLY Original Filed April 10, 1937 Aug. 29, 1939.

.Deaw

'wliliiillulnlllllii flZberZ G5. BY W ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT orricr.

VEHICLE ROOF CONSTRUCTION METHOD OF ASSEMBLY Albert G. Dean, Narberth, Pa., assignor to Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application April 10, 1937, Serial No. 136,198 7 RenewedJanuary 31, 1939 16 Claims. (CL 108-54) The invention relates to a roof construction in connection with the drawings forming a part and more particularly to a roof construction for hereof. vehicle bodies such as rail cars, busses and the In the drawings: like. I l Figure 1 is a partial transverse sectional view It is among the objects of the invention to proadjacent one end of the roof subassembly of the 5 vide a roof construction which is of light weight invention, the section being taken looking toward yet strong enough to take a substantial compresthe end of the roof approximately on the line sion load, thereby permitting the overall lightenof F gu e ing of vehicles, such as rail cars, in which the Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section structure is used. It is a further object of the inthrough the end of the roof structure taken sub- 10 vention to strongly reinforce the end portion of stantially alo g the l e of F u 1 looking the roof where it ties into the vertical door posts in the direction of the arrows at the end of the and to provide such reinforcement without ensection line, the section of Figure 2 being on an croaching beyond the usual carlines upon the inenlarged scale. I terior-of the car body. A further object of the in- Fi ur 3 is a fr y transverse sectional vention is to fabricate the roof in such manner view through the roof structure on a still further as to facilitate the formation of the parts enterenlarged S a e, e Section being taken ing into the roof structure by quantity producstentielly 0n the e -3 of Figure 2 leekingsifl tion methods and to facilitate the assembly of the direction of the arrows at the end of the sec these parts in the roof subassembly. It is a furtion line. ther object of the invention to assemble the roof Figur 4 is an e d transverse sections! sheathing in such manner as to facilitate the w Of the C a P t 0 h 0 according production of a weather tight roof construction. to Figure 1,parts shown in Figure 1 being omitted These Objects are attained in part by providing and the section being extended somewhat further purline structures on the outside of the carlines across the eenterhne then in Figure to extend over a plurality of carlines and in ap- According to one embodiment of the invention proximate vertical alignment with the end door as shown in the drawings the Principal frameposis thus forming a simplified reinforced roof Work of the roof subessembly ompr ses marg nal structure where these posts are tied to the roof. upwardly facing channels, 0119 which is windi- Lightness a ease of fabri atio are attained by cated at H) in Figure 1 and the transversely exmaking the elements entering into the roof pref tending arched carhnes H suitably Spaced longierably of high tensile stainless steel, the carlines tudinelly of each other and having their ends being di pressed channel or [section members, telescoped within the channels In. These parts in some cases, of increasing depth from center to are assembled together in a S b jig located side of the roof and the sheathing comprising on the fi f the s in which h roof is longitudinal corrugated strips formed so as to Ticated- 3 provide tolerances in assembling and to permit e airlines are throughout o flanged Chentheir assembly to the carlines successively from e n s shown i Figure 2, the channel the side of the roof to the center. To provide for presenting toward t u d f th a y- In the ease of assembly and a weather proof joint, the vertical side portions of the roof subassembly t ese sheathing strips are suitably flanged in and in the region where these vertical sides curve their edges, in their outer edges laterally and in inwardly t the p Portion of the roof, the their inner edges laterally and outwardly, spot cal-lines are preferably made of deeper section welded in their overlapping margins-and finally thereby prov the added Strength Wh Such completely waterproofed 15y soldering the seams. strength is desired. To facilitate the formation The assembly of the sheathing can thus proceed of the er nes W th t s Varying Cross Section, from both sides of the roof toward the center and they are preferably die formed into two halves I2 is completed by an outwardly flanged channel and I3, see Figure 4, these halves forming a member inserted between the flanges of the corlapped joint in the center of the roof at IE but rugated sheathing strips next adjacent the cen-; being offset the thickness of the metal in the reter and secured thereto. gion of this lap joint and spot welded together Other and further objects of the invention and throu h ut h Side and bottom W l and the the advantages following from the construction laterally exte d flanges as pp in Figure by which they are obtained will become evident The subassembled carlines so described have 5.5 from the following detailed description when read their ends telescoped within the channels ifland v secured by spot welding the bottom wall of the channel of a carline to one side of the channel l0, and the laterally extending flanges l6 and I! to the opposite side wall of the channel I 0. At the end ofthe roof it is tied into the heavy vertical end posts is, usually of longitudinally deep, box-section structure, one of which is indicated to one side of the center of the roof in Figures 1 and 2 where it flanks a doorway opening. This tie is made through inclined generally triangular gusset plates tied together by channels l9a and l9b spacing them at front and rear and secured thereto by spot weld-ing, thus posts, box-section structures. As shown in, Figures 2 and 3, the channelof the carline next to the end is discontinuous in this region 'of joinder of the gussets but its spaced ends are joined to: gether by a plate 20 extending in from the end of the roof some distance beyond this carline and extending laterally from side to side of the roof subassembly and overlapping the spaced carline sections on opposite sides of the center line andspot welded to the lateral flanges I6 and ll of this carline. This plate furnishes substantial reinforcement to the end portion of the roof structure. At the extreme end, a carline 2| of angular section having its upper horizontally extending arm flanged downwardly at 22 is provided and spot welded to the the overlapping finish angle 22'. 1,

In this region of joinder of the end posts to the roof, the roof is reinforcedlongitudinally by an inner purlinestructure offlanged channel section presenting inwardly of the car bodyas shown at 23 in Figure 3, this purline being reinforced not only by plate 20 already described but also by a plate 24 -of longitudinal extent as the purline spot weldled to its lateral flanges. This inner purline, however, does not cross any is of a longitudinal vide a reinforced and the outer purline structure forming 43. principal longitudinal structure.

In the subassembly the channel 23 and'the plate 24 are preferably spot welded together in spot welded to the plate extended portions 20 while the laterally of the plate 24, are; spot welded to the bottoms of the adjacent carline ends. Sincel9, the plates being transversely constituting them, like the,

plate 20 and also,

substantially the same of the primary carlines and provided an 21' through their laterally extending flanges to form the outside purline subassembly and this subassembly is secured in final assembly where it crosses the carlines beyond this plate to a separate plate 20 extending laterally a distance beyond the purline subassembly suflicient to overlap several corrugations of the roof sheathing and of an inward longitudinal extent similar to the extent of the angles 26 and 21. The plate 20 is, like the. plate 20, spot welded to the lateral flanges of the carlines across which it extends.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that a strongly reinforced roof structure in substantially the vertical plane of the end posts is produced and one well calculated to distribute the loading from these posts into the roof strucparticularly since the purline described is strongly connected to the roof sheathing in a manner to be described. The roof sheathing for convenience in assembly and fabrication and to provide adequate compression strengtlgtwithout unduly adding to the weight ,of 'the structure is preferably formed of longitudinal corrugated sheet metal strips acting as tions, the last corrugation, as 29, adjacent one side being provided with a short outwardly proj'ecting flange '30 and the last corrugation 3| adjacentthe other side being formed with a relatively wide flange 32 terminating in an upstanding I flange '33 of somewhat less height than the depth .of the corrugationa. In the assembly of the corrugated strips to the carlines ll they are spot welded 'to' the lateral flanges at the margins of the carlines.

In the assembly,'the outer narrow flange 30 of one strip overlaps the inner wide flange 32 of an adjacent strip with the flange 33 extending upwardly in .the first corrugation, as 29, of the first mentioned strip. Since the flanges 32 and 30 diifer in width andthe corrugations also have some width, lateral adjustment is permitted in the assembly to 30" and 32 are spot welded together and to the lateral flanges i6 and H of the carlines.

joint, the joint ther sealed with a line of solder 34, thus insuring absolute water tightness. The arrangement of the overlap between the strips allows this soldering to be effected in locations where the solder is most effective and least likely to crack.

-With this construction,

reinforcing members has proved convenient and expeditious. First, referring now to Figure l, the flnal assembly gusset 35 and the moulding strip 36 at the bottom edge of thereof subassembly are spot welded to the outer flange of the channel l0. -Also the upper downwardly facing flanged channel moulding strip 31 may at this In the first instance, the lower edge flange 30 is brought into overlapping relation with the upper edge flange of the moulding strip 36 and spot welded thereto while the upper edge flange 32 is spot welded directly to the lateral flanges l6 and H of the carlines. The next succeeding strip differs from the typical strip above described by having a narrow flange at both sides, instead of a narrow flange at one side, and a relatively wide flange with an outwardly extending flange at the opposite side. This is by reason of the fact that its upper edge is arranged to overlap the lateral downwardly extending flange of the moulding strip 31 and is secured thereto. Above and inwardly of the moulding strip 31 the panel strips are assembled successively from the outside inwardly to the region where. the outwardly proj ecting purlines/and the plates through which they are welded to the carlines are arranged.

The strip just outside of the purline assembly is similar to the second strip from-the edge of the roof structure in that it is merely flanged laterally at its inner edge, and overlaps the margins ably outwardly flanged'at 40, these flanges exof the plate through several corrugations and is strongly welded thereto through said corrugations. The strip inside of the purline assembly is joined thereto in the same manner as the outside strip. This lateral flange 38 overlaps the edge of the channel plate 21' forming part of the purline subassembly and is spot welded thereto and the underlying plate 20'.

The lateral margins of the plate 21' are prefertending under and into the adjacent corrugations of the sheathing strips in the same manner as the flange of one sheathing strip extends into the adjacent corrugation of the next adjacent strip, as already described. From the purline subassembly inwardly the strips are assembled in the usual manner already described until the strips 42 adjacent the center line of the roof are reached. These strips 42 adjacent the center line at opposite sides thereof are each provided with a terminal outwardly extending flange 43 and the roof sheathing is finally completed by inserting the outwardly facing channel 44 between the flanges of the corrugated paneling strips 42 and spot welding it. thereto.

The manner in' which the sheathing is secured to the parts 20, 40 and of the purline structure and to the carlines, as by numerous spot welds, insures the distribution of the compression load from. the purlines into the roof structure as a whole.

As already pointed out, after the parts are -so spot welded together the roof sheathing is fairly tight in its joints but in'order to insure absolute water tightness, each of; the joints beforming a V-shaped pocket between lapping lateral flanges of tween the longitudinally extending strips forming the sheathing is sealed with a line of solder 3'1. It will be noted from Figure 4 that the' outer margins of the overlapping 42 and the channel 44 are spaced from each other them which pocket is also sealed with solder indicated by numeral 45.

As clearly shown in Figure 3, the gusset plates 19 extending upwardly from the post l8 are laterally flanged at 46 and 41 and secured through said lateral flanges to the reinforced roof structure in this region by spot welding them to the longitudinally extending plate 24 and the over-I the-channel 23.

The foregoing construction lends itself particularly to "fabrication out of thin gauge, high flanges of the strips tensile stainless steel, such-as 18' and 8"; the joints between the parts are all open and accessible to permit of their expeditious assembly both in subassembly and in final assembly; and the parts are of such configuration as to facilitate 5 their formation by die rolling or drawing. In fact, the entire construction is such as to greatly facilitate the manufacture of structures of this class in large quantities by the usual quantity production methods. By reason of this construction, the roof structure is a very rigid unit which can be easily handled in the shop and brought down in final assembly and secured to the tops of the side and end walls of the vehicle, and is well calculated when so assembled to take a substantial portion of the loading to which the bodies of this class are subjected.

While I have herein shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A roof structure for vehicle bodies having vertical door posts anchored into an end of the 25 roof structure, said roof structure having transverse carlines at longitudinal spaced intervals and longitudinally corrugated sheathing secured to the carlines, said structure being reinforced at the end and for a distance extending inwardly from the end of said roof structure over several carl'nes by a purline structure attached both to the outer faces of said carlines and to the sheathing, the reinforcement distributing the compression loads due to the anchorage of'the vertical door posts of the end wall in this region into the' roof structure as a whole.

2. A roof structure for vehicle bodies having transverse carlines of hollow cross section at longitudinal spaced intervals, the first carline in from an end of the roof structure being discontinuous in the region of attachment'of the roof structure to a vertical post of an end wall of the body, but reinforced in this region by a hollow section inner purline of substantially the depth of the carline, the carline and purline being interconnected at top and bottom by flat plates overlapping the adjacent parts of said purline and carline. I

3. A roof structure having transverse carlines of hollow cross section spaced longitudinally, the carline next to the end of the roof being crossed by an inner purline in the region of joinder of a vertical end post to the roof, and an outer purlinefurther reinforcing the roof in said region but extended inwardly to overlap and be secured to at least one additional carline.

4. A vehicle roof having carlines and sheathing made from sheet metal and a sheet metal purline, comprising a member having a plate base overlapping and secured to the carlines and an outwardly extending intermediate stiffening ridge between the side edges of said base, the base plate being extended laterally to overlap adjacent margins of the roof sheathing and secured thereto.

5. A vehicle roof having longitudinally spaced carlines and longitudinally corrugated sheathing secured to said carlines, and a purline comprising an angular section member extending inwardly from the end of the roof to overlap a plurality of carlines on their outer sides and secured thereto and to the corrugated roof sheathing.

6. A roof structure for vehicle bodies having transverse carlines of hollow cross section .at longitudinally spaced intervals, the first carline to permit the passage the carlines, said purline sub-assembly including a substantially flat sheet metal strip and a pair of angles secured together through their overlapping arms, the other arms of the angles extending laterally to overlap and be secured to the flat strip and through it to the carlines.

.. a 8. A roof structure embodying longitudinally spaced transverse carlines, a purline structure adapted to be applied to the outside faces of the carlines, said purline structure including a multiple plate structure fitting against the outer faces of the carlines, and a vertical stiifening flange projecting outwardly from said plate structure intermediate its lateral edges.

9. A roof structure embodying longitudinally spaced carlines, the carline next to an end of said structure being of a. flanged channel section purlineQbut rendered continuous by top and bottom plates..interconnecting the purline and the ends of the carline at opposite sides of said purline, the flanges of said channel and said bottom plate forming a double thickness anchorage area of substantial extent to which a front wall post is adapted to be strongly anchored. 1,0,A roof structure for vehicle bodies emportion thereof, transverse bod'ying 'in an end longitudinal spaced carlines, and in the region of the anchorage of an end wall post to the roof structure a bottom plate fitted against the inside or certain' f said carlines and extended inwardly from an end' of the body a substantial distance, a flanged channel section purline secured to'sa'id plate through its flanges and of, substantially the depth of the plate secured to the outer faces of said carlines and said purline, and an outer purline structure overlying and secured to said channel purline and, extended inwardly beyond the same for securement to additional carlines.

11. A carline for vehicle roofs made of sheet metal, said carline comprised of two stampings each extending. from the center line of the roof to its respective side and of increasing depth toward its lateral extremity, the central portions overlapping and secured together.

12. In a transversely arched roof structure, a weather proof joint between longitudinal through running corrugated roofsheets, the outer and lower of said sheets having its inner edge flanged laterally parallel to then outwardly, the adjacent inner and higher sheet having a narrower edge flange paralleling the plane of the sheet, said narrow flange overtransversely discontinuous carlines, a transverse the plane of the sheet and 'at the edge in an upwardly extending flange at the bottom of the innermost corrugation, which consists in assembling said corrugated strips from the opposed lower outer sides upwardly and inwardly toward the center with the outer corrugation on one strip overlapping the outwardly extending flanges of the next adjacent strip and the narrow edge flange overlapping the wide flange, and securing them together by spot welding through said flanges and in finally closing the roof at the center by a longitudinal channel strip having its sides overlapping the outwardly extending flanges of the adjacent corrugated 'strips and spot welding the parts together through said overlap.

14. A roof structure embodying spaced transverse carlines longitudinally extending strips of longitudinally corrugated roof sheathing secured to said carlines, a longitudinal shallow channel member extending the length of the sheathing strips and secured in the space between two corrugated sheat g strips and secured thereto and to the carlines, said channel providing a means through which a longitudinally extending outer purline of a desired length may be .secured to the carlines and sheathing.

15. A roof structure for vehicle bodies embodying spaced transverse carlines, a longitudinal plate extending inwardly from one end of the.

roof structure over a plurality of said carlines and secured thereto, sheathing strips embodying longitudinal corrugations overlapping the lateral edges of said plate and secured thereto through a plurality of corrugations, and an outer purline assembly secured to said plate and the carlines and the margins of the adjacent longitudinal sheathing strips.

16. In a transversely arched roof structure, a joint between longitudinal through running corrugated roof sheets, the outer and lower of said sheets having its inner edge flanged laterally parallel to the plane of the sheet and then outwardly to a depth less than the depth of a corrugation, the adjacent inner and higher sheet having a narrower edge flange paralleling the plane of the sheet, said'narrow flange overlapping the lateral flange of the first sheet with the outwardly extending flange thereof projecting into the first corrugation of the second sheet, said overlapping flanges being spot welded together and weather-proofing material applied along the joints between said sheets; v

ALBERT G. DEAN. 

